PIRATES AND PRIVATEERS IN THE 18TH CENTURY

The difference between privateers and pirates was that one had a licence to attack foreign shipping, the other acted illegally. In practice, however, they were often indistinguishable. This interesting book redefines the glamorous swashbuckling image of both pirates and privateers, replacing it with a buccaneering pragmatist operating in dangerous conditions and politically ambiguous situations. Many pirates did achieve fame based on personality, as we can see from the stories of some of the most famous, for instance Blackbeard, Captain Morgan and Mary Read. At the end of the golden age of piracy, stretching from 1650 to 1730, a colourful "General History of the Pyrates" was published, influencing the mythology for centuries, although it was probably not written, as at first supposed, by Daniel Defoe. The myth of gold bullion was always greatly exaggerated, and a pirate's booty was more likely to be tobacco, sugar or cotton. Walking the plank was probably also a myth, though the so-called "Enlightenment" was an age of barbaric punishment. In the 1690s the Caribbean became too crowded, and European pirates went further afield to the Red Sea and coast of east Africa. Pirates flew a black flag which was sometimes enough to make a ship surrender, but privateers operating under government licence might adopt the flag of an enemy nation to give a false sense of security. The book examines pirates' lifestyle, looking at how the sinking of a Spanish treasure fleet in a storm off the coast of Florida led to a pirates' gold rush and how the King's Pardon was a desperate gamble which paid off, and it considers the role of individual island governors such as Woodes Rogers in the Bahamas in bringing piracy under control. Captain Morgan was a privateer on good terms with the Governor of Jamaica, whom he paid handsomely to overlook certain clauses in his contract. Henry Avery was an interesting case of a pirate who quit with his booty while he was winning, whereas most buccaneers went on until killed or captured. By the mid-18th century regulations were being tightened and the enterprise squeezed out of existence. 173pp, photos and illustrations.